1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the simultaneous sanitation of several food surfaces and more particularly pertains to industrial modular, compact, efficient systems and devices for sanitizing foods during processing and packaging, especially those processed on assembly lines. The present invention also relates to foods sanitized by such systems and devices.
2. Description of Related Art
Food sanitation is a growing concern in the world. More and more aggressive disease-causing agents are discovered every year. In addition, an increasing number of people are made ill each year by eating contaminated foods. Also, the numbers of foods linked to food-caused illnesses continues to increase. Nonetheless, the desire for safer foods is higher than ever. In fact, more and more state and federal jurisdictions are requiring that businesses use the most efficacious food safety and sanitation practices.
Efficient use of modern sanitization techniques decreases the cost of applying them. These savings, when passed to the consumer, mean the consumers spend less on the processed foods. Also, efficient sanitizing techniques can allow more food to be processed in a smaller amount of space. Thus, smaller facilities may compete with larger ones, thereby increasing competition between processors and lowering prices to consumers. In addition, facilities that use less-safe processing techniques may be easily retrofit to install an efficient apparatus. Furthermore, modularity in a sanitizing system or device makes it easy to manufacture and easy to replace parts.
Sanitizing radiation allows a highly controllable application of organism-killing radiation to foods and food additives. The use of sanitizing radiation in the food industry in general is well known in the prior art, and has been used in a variety of forms, including gamma ray radiation, ultraviolet (UV) light and infrared radiation.
For example, it is well known that gamma radiation and UV radiation has been used in some countries for the sterilization of spices and animal feeds. However, over-use of ultraviolet radiation may cause undesirable chemical reactions with a food or food additive, which can cause the food or food additive to obtain undesirable flavors or textures. Also, various vitamins and proteins may be altered or destroyed through being subjected to too much radiation, reducing the food value of the treated product.
Traditional methods of irradiating foods processed or packaged in assembly line manner use an unnecessary amount of radiation, as well as space, in a food processing facility. Furthermore, they fail to take full advantage of the combined use of ozone, UV light, hydroperoxides, superoxides and hydroxyl radicals in the sanitization process. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,150,663 to Rosenthal teaches a system incorporating an irradiation system using radiation, and only radiation, to sanitize food. Rosenthal also teaches vibration of the food to optimize radiation exposure to all of the food surfaces. The entire system is inefficient and ineffective, as irradiation alone may not properly sanitize food, and there is no sanitization of more than one side at the same time. In addition, if there were a slight fold on the food surface, the shaded food surface would never be sanitized. However, ozone, hydroperoxides, superoxides and hydroxyl radical ions are able to get beneath a fold and sanitize a folded over food surface. Furthermore, hydroperoxides, superoxides, ozone and hydroxyl radical ions, when used together, reduce the amount of radiation needed thereby decreasing radiation damage to food. Also, if the food were prepackaged so that vibration would topple the packaging, then the Rosenthal process would be contraindicated.
Thus, there is a need for a portable modular system that sanitizes more than one food surface simultaneously. There is also a need for a system that uses the sanitizing combination of radiation, ozone, hydroperoxides, superoxides and hydroxyl radicals, or one that makes it easy to apply or manufacture economically. There is also a lack of such a sanitizing system that may be retrofit into an existing assembly system. There is no system designed with modularity in mind, to suit different processes properly, or to provide easy manufacture or replacement of component parts. There is no system wherein the radiation, ozone, hydroperoxides, superoxides and hydroxyl radicals are optimized for food treatment. There is no system that efficiently utilizes sanitizing radiation, ozone, hydroperoxides, superoxides and hydroxyl radicals to sanitize processed and/or prepackaged foods. There is no system which adds regulated amounts of moisture to the enclosing sanitizing system to improve the efficiency of the formation of hydroperoxides, superoxides and hydroxyl radicals in sanitizing food. There is no such system that is easy to assemble, adjust, transport, clean, maintain and disassemble. There is no system using sanitizing radiation, ozone, hydroperoxides, superoxides and hydroxyl radicals that is adjustable on a frame with wheels, or that uses sanitizers on more than one side simultaneously. In other words, there is no system that takes advantage of the sanitizing and free-moving characteristics of a combination of radiation with ozone, hydroperoxides, superoxides and hydroxyl radicals to improve sanitization beyond what mere radiation can perform.